So I've been looking into playing a bad touch cleric and can't help but wonder if I should take a level of Mesmerist for the state and spells I wouldn't normally get. Think it's worth a level? Was thinking cleric of Gorum with madness and chaos domains, level 10 (9 cleric, 1 Mesmerist). Worth it?
Mesmerist is rather nice if you're slapping on a lot of Will-save touches, or just Will saves in general. It gets better when you factor in that Painful Stare can also give your allies a boost as well, as well as enabling you to spike your damage a bit as well. However, you are delaying your spells some as well, which is... Eh. It won't be the end of the world, but it is one more level to wait for 6th level spells. Personally, I wouldn't go for it, but I'm also the sort who would have gone Mesmerist first.
Only reason I'm not is Mesmerists don't heal
What is Bad Touch Cleric?
What is Bad Touch Cleric?
What it sounds like. A cleric who fights primarily by debilitating enemies with touch spells.
Slang for a cleric who has everything he touched shrivel and die/be disadvantaged. From Tark's guide
Another question-think I'm better off with Mesmerist or cleric for battlefield control?
What is Bad Touch Cleric?
They are the clerics of Folca (portfolio: Abduction, strangers, sweets). Their favored weapons are unmarked white vans that say "free candy".
...ok, they are clerics that take advantage of the ton of touch spells that lay on debuffs on the cleric list. Since they ahve decent health, AC, and BAB, they can do fine with getting in that close.
Any suggestions as to if the Mesmerist level is worth it?
Any suggestions as to if the Mesmerist level is worth it?
Eh. One level seems fine if you want to throw out a lot of will saves.
Past that, the problem of multiclassing grows too big to really see a reason to go further.There might be benefits (potentially affecting mindless creatures with some spells, swift action fix for some mental ailments, etc).
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The problem with one level of Mesmerist is that undead/constructs/etc will be immune to your stare (which is usually remedied by taking Psychic Inception as a L3 Mesmerist). So, basically, you're looking for a situational swift action ability for a (basically) +2 DC at the cost of slowing your Cleric progression. Not worth it IMHO.
Mesmerist works best as a full progression. The 1st level does give you goodies. The swift action hypnotic stare for a -2 to will saves is good.. But the real meat of the class comes from the first six/seven levels. In this case it wouldn't be worthwhile delaying cleric spellcasting progression.
Mesmerist is, however, one of my new favorite classes. I've played one from level 3 to 10 and it's been a blast at every level. Mesmerists are deceptively good at melee and also have some VERY strong support mechanics.
Is it possible to build a Bad Touch Cleric with good alignment? Without madness domain?
Is it possible to build a Bad Touch Cleric with good alignment? Without madness domain?It is possible to have these yes but madness domain is the best domain by a country mile. I often point to Azothoth as the baseline for bad touch clerics as his alignment and domains are very friendly. Whether or not you use madness, which I urge, I advise using bestow curse to the max. This includes a lot of metamagic feats with metamgic cost reduction traits like wayang spell hunter. When you can use quicken bestow curse on top of madness or chaos touch power your really making the enemy suffer.
Tsukiyo of the Tian Xia pantheon is Lawful Good with access to the Madness domain (as well as Darkness, Good, Law & Repose) if that helps.
Decided to stick with a cleric, going with madness and chaos(protean?) domains so I can just mess up everything the bad guys have. Then, if I live to see level 20,I'll take Mesmerist, as this campaign goes higher than that